WRR – Chapter 11

Yu Lingshan had even prepared shoes for Xu Shi—a pair of low-heeled sandals that perfectly matched the dress.

After Xu Shi put them on, Yu Lingshan pushed her into the bathroom and told her to wash her face.

“Then put on some makeup.”

Xu Shi was at a loss. “Is that necessary?”

With an air that brooked no refusal, Yu Lingshan glanced at the sink. “Wash your face.”

Xu Shi could only obey.

Then she let Yu Lingshan take over.

Thankfully, Yu Lingshan didn’t fuss too much. She applied a base, did her eyes and eyebrows, brushed on some blush, and finished with lipstick.

“Mmm~” Yu Lingshan capped the lipstick with her index finger, her expression satisfied. “Xiao Zhi is so pretty.”

Then she picked up the bag from the table. “Let’s go.”

Just like that, they were off. Yu Lingshan naturally looped her arm through Xu Shi’s wrist, just as naturally slung the bag over Xu Shi’s shoulder, and finally, pulled out the room key and dropped it into the bag.

After a few steps down the hallway, Yu Lingshan suddenly took Xu Shi’s hand and placed it on her stomach.

“When someone is linking arms with you, you should bend your arm. That way, it’s easier for them to rest their hand, and they don’t have to grab your clothes,” Yu Lingshan explained, then asked, “Understand?”

Xu Shi adjusted her arm properly. “Understood.”

Yu Lingshan smiled. “Why are you so obedient?”

Xu Shi didn’t know what to say, so she just smiled back.

Yu Lingshan asked curiously, “Are you this obedient with people you know well, too?”

Still at a loss for words, Xu Shi just smiled again and mumbled, “Mhm.”

When they got into the elevator, Yu Lingshan finally let go of Xu Shi due to their positions. Xu Shi rubbed her sweaty palm and silently shifted a little to the side.

Then she took out her phone again.

Just then, Yu Lingshan’s gaze shifted down from the elevator’s display. She turned to say something to Xu Shi and caught a glimpse of a familiar chat interface on her phone screen.

She saw Xu Shi scroll up a little.

Yu Lingshan asked, “Waiting for a message?”

Xu Shi looked up, but she didn’t angle her phone away to hide it from Yu Lingshan.

“No,” Xu Shi said.

Yu Lingshan: “You seem a bit distracted.”

Xu Shi denied it. “I’m not.”

Yu Lingshan said no more. Then she took out her own phone, unlocked it away from Xu Shi’s view, found an app on her home screen, long-pressed it, and deleted it.

Before long, they arrived at the restaurant. As they followed the waiter in from the entrance, Xu Shi understood why Yu Lingshan had made her change clothes and put on makeup.

It was a quiet environment with a very strong design aesthetic and a sense of expense that seemed to emanate from every step.

So, after they were seated, Xu Shi secretly took out her phone to look up the average cost per person. Her breath caught in her throat.

“I’ll order,” Yu Lingshan said, already looking at the menu. She asked Xu Shi, “Any dietary restrictions?”

Xu Shi shook her head. “No.”

Yu Lingshan ordered quickly, taking only a few seconds. She just pointed at the menu for the waiter—“This one, this one, this one, and this one”—and was done.

After the waiter left, Xu Shi had nothing to do and didn’t dare look at Yu Lingshan, so she lowered her head and drank her water.

“Xu Xiao Zhi,” Yu Lingshan called out.

Xu Shi immediately swallowed her water. “Yes?”

Yu Lingshan asked, “When you knocked on my door earlier, what did you call me?”

Xu Shi said, “Teacher Yu?”

Yu Lingshan picked up her water glass. “Do you think that’s appropriate?”

Xu Shi didn’t quite understand. “What’s not appropriate about it?”

Yu Lingshan: “What do you think?”

Xu Shi said, “Xiao Sun calls you Teacher Yu, Tingting calls you Teacher Yu, and everyone else called you Teacher Yu today.”

Yu Lingshan let out a sound. “So you mean, now that the event is over, you’ll go back to calling me by my name?”

Xu Shi ventured a guess. “You don’t like me calling you Teacher Yu?”

Yu Lingshan gave a soft laugh. “Right now, I really want to pour this entire bottle of wine down your throat.”

Xu Shi didn’t dare say a word.

Perhaps having said that, Yu Lingshan simply asked, “Do you drink?”

Xu Shi shook her head. “No, water is fine.”

Yu Lingshan tilted her head, took Xu Shi’s wine glass, and began to pour.

“Just a suggestion,” she said, staring at the glass. “Seeing how uncomfortable you are right now, I’d advise you to have a drink. After you drink, you won’t remember a thing.”

Yu Lingshan pushed the half-filled glass to the center of the table. “I take a long time to eat. Can you endure it?”

Xu Shi was truly taken aback by Yu Lingshan’s attempt to persuade her to drink. How did Yu Lingshan know she was uncomfortable, and how could she say it so bluntly, without a trace of awkwardness?

Xu Shi was the one who felt awkward.

But then she thought, what didn’t Yu Lingshan know? She was incredibly sharp; she just didn’t always say it.

Just as she was thinking this, Yu Lingshan spoke again. “You’re not actually that different from your usual self after you’ve been drinking. You should know that, right?”

Xu Shi shook her head. “There’s still a difference.”

Yu Lingshan: “Oh?”

Xu Shi: “I talk a lot.”

Yu Lingshan shrugged. “Fine. Then you choose. Do you want to be the relaxed, talkative Xu Shi, or the Xu Shi who has to sit here, fidgeting nervously, while a slowpoke like me takes over an hour to eat?”

She added, “Your bag is in my room, and your key card is inside it, right? I’ll take you back.”

Xu Shi didn’t know why Yu Lingshan was so insistent on her drinking, especially when she hadn’t let her drink at the bar last time.

She glanced at the wine on the table, then at the strange woman across from her, and found herself thinking that Yu Lingshan’s suggestion actually made a bit of sense.

After hesitating for a long time, Xu Shi decided to take the glass.

Just then, she heard Yu Lingshan let out a laugh. “Interesting.”

Yu Lingshan poured herself half a glass as well and raised it.

Xu Shi clinked glasses with her. After the toast, Yu Lingshan extravagantly downed her entire half-glass, so Xu Shi had no choice but to drink all of hers as well.

The tipsiness came on quickly. By the time the waiter brought the first course, Xu Shi’s brain had already started to go fuzzy, and that was before Yu Lingshan poured her another glass.

This time, however, Xu Shi wasn’t as talkative. She just kept her head down and ate, stopping when she felt she could barely swallow anymore.

Then she began to stare blankly into space, completely unabashed. After a while, she took out her phone, propped her head in her hand with a troubled expression, and asked the phone, “Why is she so busy today? She still hasn’t replied to my message.”

Yu Lingshan asked Xu Shi, “Who?”

Xu Shi said, “Heard.”

Yu Lingshan raised an eyebrow. “Do you like her?”

Xu Shi nodded. “Mhm.”

Yu Lingshan asked, “What do you like about her?”

Xu Shi suddenly propped her chin on both hands, looked at Yu Lingshan, and said, “She’s a lot like you.”

For once, Yu Lingshan was surprised. She even put down the food that was halfway to her mouth. She asked Xu Shi, “Like me?”

Xu Shi suddenly lowered her head, shook it twice, and fell silent.

Afterward, no matter what else Yu Lingshan asked or said to her, she wouldn’t speak. It was as if her subconscious was telling her not to say too much this time.

Yu Lingshan hadn’t been lying when she said Xu Shi wasn’t much different when she was drunk. It was true.

Last time had been a little different; she had clung to Yu Lingshan and cried, saying she’d been deceived in college, that her future was ruined, and that she was a huge idiot.

But this time, Xu Shi refused to say anything. She ate in silence, and when she was done, she just sat there obediently and watched Yu Lingshan eat.

The way she looked at Yu Lingshan was with an unconcealed gaze she never had when sober. When Yu Lingshan looked up and met her eyes, she would even smile, which actually made Yu Lingshan feel a little embarrassed.

She was easy to manage on the way back, too. She let Yu Lingshan hold her hand, stopped when told to stop, and walked when told to walk, though her steps weren’t very steady.

When they got to Yu Lingshan’s room, Xu Shi actually remembered what Yu Lingshan had said. She asked, “Where’s my bag? You said you’d take me back to my room.”

The bag was clearly on the TV stand, but Xu Shi just couldn’t see it.

So Yu Lingshan handed her the bag.

She had originally planned to wait for Xu Shi to reach for it, then pull it away to tease her, but unexpectedly, Xu Shi acted first.

Xu Shi asked, “Do you want me to go back?”

As Xu Shi spoke, her big eyes were fixed on Yu Lingshan. She seemed to be trying hard to look pitiful, but having never done such a thing before, the resulting expression was just strange.

Yu Lingshan was successfully amused. She looked at Xu Shi helplessly. “How can you be one person before drinking and a completely different one after?”

Xu Shi, perhaps not having heard her, asked a seemingly related but also unrelated question: “Why did you make me drink?”

The corner of Yu Lingshan’s eyebrow twitched. She moved a little closer to Xu Shi and asked, “Do you remember what you did to me at my front door that night?”

Xu Shi shook her head. “I don’t remember.”

Yu Lingshan asked, “Want me to help you remember?”

Xu Shi: “Oh.”

Yu Lingshan’s eyes crinkled with a smile as she said to Xu Shi, “Look at my mouth.”

Xu Shi obediently looked down.

Yu Lingshan said, “Kiss me.”

Xu Shi didn’t move. She raised her gaze and looked at Yu Lingshan.

Yu Lingshan hooked a finger around the sash on Xu Shi’s waist, pulled her closer, and leaned in to press a light kiss to her lips.

That single touch gave Xu Shi a huge shock.

Xu Shi stared at Yu Lingshan with wide eyes, and Yu Lingshan looked back at her. They held each other’s gaze silently for three seconds before Xu Shi suddenly raised a hand, cupped the back of Yu Lingshan’s head, and kissed her.

Xu Shi’s kiss was clinging but not cloying. Her lips were soft, and she knew just when to suckle and when to press forward.

Heh, not bad at all.